This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with embodiments of the disclosed techniques. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the disclosed techniques. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section is to be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
Three-dimensional (3D) model construction and visualization commonly employs data stored as a structured grid or an unstructured grid. Such model construction and visualization have been widely accepted by numerous disciplines as a mechanism for analyzing, communicating, and comprehending complex 3D relationships. Examples of physical regions that can be subjected to 3D analysis include the earth's subsurface, facility designs and the human body.
With respect to providing visualizations of data regarding a 3D earth model, the current practices generally relate to processing and visualizing the geological data types such as seismic volumes, a geo-modeling grid, fault surfaces, horizon grids, well data and the like. In addition, it may be desirable to visually represent engineering and geoscience data types, which may be point or non-spatial data. Examples of such data types include drilling information, daily/monthly production data, geochemical or geomechanical analysis results, production measurements or the like.
The ability to extract useful information from a complex data model and to display that information is desirable in many fields, including the fields of hydrocarbon exploration and production. Known toolkits provide property extraction support but lack sufficient flexibility. For example, known property extraction toolkits that operate on structured grids and geologic models extract a property value from cells entered by a straight-line path. A known property extraction toolkit provides extraction for an arbitrary input set of points in a structured grid and geologic model. For each point, the value of a cell that contains the point is extracted. The application of this type of property extraction to seismic data is trivial.
Another known property extraction tool that is used with structured grid and geologic models extracts a cell property value for each cell being entered at each intersection point along a straight-line path. Yet another structured grid and geologic model property extraction tool extracts cell values only at input points rather than at intersection points. Known methods used to extract geologic model cell properties are more generic relative to seismic data extraction.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,203,342 relates to a method of extracting desired features from a cellular image. The method includes the step of selecting an initial cell within the image. An additional cell is selected near the initial cell, appearing to be associated with a desired feature. The step of selecting an additional cell is repeated for further cells near at least one of the previously selected cells, appearing to be associated with the feature, until selection termination criteria are satisfied. The previous steps are repeated for other initial cells. The method is alleged to allow the extracting of relatively weakly defined features in relatively noisy images, such as extracting faults or geologic horizons from two-dimensional (2D) or 3D seismic data. A method of editing/filtering the features utilizing a stereo net is also disclosed. Related computer system and computer program products for implementing the method are also described.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0199721 relates to a method for performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with an underground reservoir therein. The oilfield may be provided with at least one wellsite with oilfield equipment for extracting fluid from the underground reservoir. The disclosed method relates to collecting data comprising trajectory and earth properties associated with a planned well for a geoscience application to obtain a geoscience model. A well planning system integrated with the geoscience application is invoked and the trajectory and earth properties is extracted from the geoscience model to obtain an extracted trajectory and extracted earth properties. At least one parameter is determined for the planned well based on the extracted trajectory and the extracted earth properties. The at least one parameter is displayed in association with the planned well within a geological context of the geoscience application to allow refinement of the planned well for efficient fluid extraction from the underground reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,879 relates to a systematic, two-stage method for determining well locations in a 3D reservoir model while satisfying various constraints, including: minimum interwell spacing, maximum well length, angular limits for deviated completions, and minimum distance from reservoir and fluid boundaries. In the first stage, the wells are placed assuming that the wells can only be vertical. In the second stage, these vertical wells are examined for optimized horizontal and deviated completions. This is expedient, yet systematic, and it provides a first-pass set of well locations and configurations. The first stage solution formulates the well placement problem as a binary integer programming (BIP) problem which uses a “set-packing” approach that exploits the problem structure, strengthens the optimization formulation, and reduces the problem size. Commercial software packages may be used to solve BIP problems. The second stage sequentially considers the selected vertical completions to determine well trajectories that connect maximum reservoir pay values while honoring configuration constraints including: completion spacing constraints, angular deviation constraints, and maximum length constraints. The parameter to be optimized in both stages is a tortuosity-adjusted reservoir “quality.” The quality is preferably a static measure based on a proxy value such as porosity, net pay, permeability, permeability-thickness, or pore volume. These property volumes are generated by techniques of seismic data analysis and interpretation, geology and petrophysical interpretation and mapping, and well testing from existing wells. Also disclosed is an algorithm for calculating the tortuosity-adjusted quality values.